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From the PAC open houses of November:
STRIDE got a copy of the open house transcripts - interestingly
(you wouldn't know it from how the project keeps being spun), most
comments are against the project.
A tally of all comments for all three open houses runs this way:
for the project: 33
neutral: 23
against the project: 46
And what will our fearless
leaders do with this information? probably nothing, since they
get all their facts from Smith
Parker and are too busy thinking of loppet races funded by Abbott
Hospital. But for you, our fearless reader, some
quotes from the official transcripts:
"153 million dollars can be better invested in building a
transit system for this city and region"
-Dean Zimmerman, 6th Ward Councilmember
"One of the biggest mistakes was the accommodation of HOV
lanes. The PAC supported it because they want the project to move
forward at any cost, and that's not acceptable. We will ask that
it be an LRT or BRT, (Bus Rapid Transit) line. Transit improvement
needs to be more a part of this project."
-Jeanne Massey, Kingfield (PAC member, voted against the project)
"I think if you really want to invite more economic growth,
you should consider kids my age who have a lot of money free, money
to spend, and some consideration for a more rapid transit system
or something that will allow us to get there more easily and help
your community grow and enhance your community."
-Josh Kane, 16 year old from St. Paul who took the bus to the meeting.
"I think we are spending a lot of money. I just got my property
statement. 49.7 percent increase from last year. Who do you think
is going to shell out the 153 million dollars for this? It's going
to cost a lot more than that, and I don't want to pay for it. I
take the bus every day and I think we need to work on more mass
transit."
-Megan Duffy, Kingfield
"…to put Smith
Parker, a private law firm, not an engineering firm, not an
urban planning firm, not an economic development firm, but a law
firm that does extensive lobbying, that has tremendous political
connections, that is expert at public relations, to put them in
charge of this tells us that the cards were stacked from the get-go."
-Antonio Rosell, Whittier
"I think its really strange that we somehow feel we have to
give a driveway to Allina and to Wells Fargo. We don't ask that
of other businesses. If you have to drive eight blocks out of the
way, I'm sorry. If you have to go through a community with people
of color, I'm sorry. I'm sorry that it is such a hindrance in your
every day life."
-Sean Whirley, Kingfield
"What we need to do is bring a coalition of neighborhoods
together and do some viable neighborhood planning to see what the
neighborhoods want and need as communities, as residents, and as
business owners and then say whether an expanded freeway is part
of that future we see for ourselves."
-Corrine Zala, West Phillips
"We are having the wrong discussion here tonight. Imagine
if all this expertise, energy and money was going towards creating
a viable transit system for our neighborhoods, for the southern
suburbs, to revitalize and address transportation issues in a future
focused way, we could do anything."
-Holle Brian, Bancroft
"What I want to see is what other cities are doing right now.
They're getting more transit, they're tearing up the freeways, they're
closing ramps. That's what we should be doing. We shouldn't be asking
for the advice of the people who only know how to muck it up for
us (the highway engineers).
-Ken Avidor, Kingfield
"Every day I walk out my front door and thank the lords of
industry for having put a sprawling eight-lane highway right down
the middle of my city. Even though bicycling is my transportation
of choice I enjoy all the benefits of living three blocks from a
plentiful supply of automobile air freshener. I breathe deeply and
say to myself, now that's progress."
-Mark Knapp, Kingfield
"As someone who suffers from asthma, I know for a fact that
the data on communities where there is high volume traffic, quite
frankly, disproportionately poor and low income communities, are
highly affected by the air quality, the soil quality, and the water
quality of their neighborhoods, and I think increasing access, as
we're calling it, increasing access, is going to do little to further
the health of our neighborhoods. It may increase, however, the volume
of patients for Abbott Northwestern."
-Liz Maclemore, Bancroft
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